


Red Red Wine Goes To My Head

by fairydustedtheory



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Human, Awkward Derek Hale, California Winter, Fluff, Lust at First Sight, M/M, POV Derek Hale, Wine Country AU, Wine Expert Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairydustedtheory/pseuds/fairydustedtheory
Summary: Derek wanted to be a good brother, but now he's here and the young man talking about wine is just too hot and Derek can't deal.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 15
Kudos: 235
Collections: A Very Sterek Winter 2021





	Red Red Wine Goes To My Head

**Author's Note:**

> Written for A Very Sterek Winter 2021. Day 2 : California Winter  
>    
> Disclaimer, I've never been to the Napa Valley, and although I grew up in a wine country, I do not like wine and do not drink it. This fic is definitely lacking in wine facts but hopefully doesn't lack UST.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://fairydustedtheory.tumblr.com/tagged/plot%20twist%20:%20i%20write)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Derek zipped up his leather jacket as he walked toward the front of the building. They hadn’t gotten any lonely snowflakes this year but January was still chilly. Even here. 

The afternoon’s grey light was slowly fading. Time to go back inside and see what all of this was about. It felt good to take a walk through the rows upon rows of grapevines after the drive with his sister. Laura was good company but Derek just had to get away for a moment of fresh air. She was excited about this trip, overly excited. 

She was compensating, definitely.

It wasn’t like Derek was supposed to be here to begin with. He should have been working in his office back in Beacon Hills but the chain of events made Laura invite him and he couldn’t refuse. 

It was supposed to be her anniversary vacation with her boyfriend. It had been planned well in advance, so much in advance that she hadn’t expected being dumped six months ago and finding herself with a non-refundable trip to Wine Country. 

Derek wanted to crush that guy’s skull for hurting his sister. 

Instead of turning to violence and murder, Derek decided to say yes when Laura asked him to come. He didn’t care for wine or for anything else. He just cared about his sister and if she decided to still go on a trip for two and asked him to come along, well, he wasn’t going to let her go through this alone.

The only problem now was that Derek could only care about wine for so long before needing to get some fresh air and only the overly enthusiastic welcome of the staff hostess had already felt like too much.

When a few raindrops started to fall from the sky, Derek decided it was better to go back inside. 

Taking a trip to wine country in the winter, that had felt romantic on the instant, cheaper, less people, a great idea for an anniversary of two people in love… it worked a little less when it was between siblings. 

Laura was just happy to drink wine and rant about men. Derek only planned on listening and nodding along.

He would probably spend his week under the darkness of the cloudy sky, walking around the rows of twisted vines, watching as a handful of workers busied themselves in the rows cutting the excess branches and preparing the plants for the new season. He might even learn a thing or two about wine. Who knew?

Derek realized it was already dinner time. A quick glance at his phone confirmed that Laura had texted to meet her in the dining room of the hotel. 

He quickly made his way there, feeling lucky for the casual atmosphere and the fact that he didn’t need to wear shiny shoes. He had enough of that back home. This was a vacation for real.

As he stepped in the dining room, Derek was momentarily struck because... Well, there was a very cute guy pouring Laura a new glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. 

When the guy looked up at Derek’s entrance, all Derek could see was the brightness of his eyes and also how the suit he was wearing wrapped tightly around his shoulders, along with the apron sporting the vineyard logo on the top left resting snuggly around his waist. 

It was a sinful sight. Derek wasn’t drunk enough for this.

“Hey Der’ come sit next to me!” Laura called him.

“Would you like something in particular, Sir?” the young sommelier asked as Derek made his way to the table.

“I’ll have what she’s having.” Derek’s face twitched, suddenly self-conscious about his lack of wine knowledge. Cabernet Sauvignon was basically as far as it got and that was only because Laura had repeated the name at least a hundred times in the car. 

Derek sat down, unable to look away from the sommelier. His skin was dotted by moles on his cheeks and neck and down. Derek really, really wished he could just tuck his fingers in the collar of that white button down shirt, maybe unbutton it a little bit, and brush his fingertips over the ridge of sharp collarbones, find out exactly where these moles were going. 

Yeah, okay. Derek was definitely attracted to guys. It had been a while since Derek had let himself think about it. His divorce from Paige had been made official a couple of years ago, but he couldn’t really say he had put himself back on the market. Not because he was still hung up on her or the failure of a relationship. No. He hated the market, his experiences with dating had mostly been disastrous, passable at best. He hated a lot of things about a lot of it, that was why staying single had been much easier.

It was so much easier to ignore everything when the only people he saw on a daily basis were his sisters. 

Laura hadn’t reacted the same way after her break-up. She was ready for the market, she was even surfing on it. Her top priority upon entering any room was to scan it and identify the possibilities. Derek was usually the complete opposite.

Right now though… All he could see were possibilities.

The sommelier was still looking at them -him- with full lips quirked into a soft smile.

“Enjoy,” he said after having poured a second glass, handing it to Derek. 

This was absolutely terrible.

Derek couldn’t help but think of other things he would very much enjoy right about now. 

"Uh. Yeah. Thanks." Derek managed to say. His throat felt tight, better sip some wine to pretend to hold it together.

“Don’t hesitate if you need anything. I’m Stiles.” 

He introduced himself, eyes not leaving Derek one second. He probably had introduced himself to Laura the same way while Derek was still outside. This wasn’t anything other than professional hospitality.

Derek broke the eye contact, using his wine glass as an excuse to look down again. He couldn’t even remember how he was supposed to hold the damn glass of wine. He really shouldn’t feel that unsettled just because he was near a beautiful young man. There was definitely something wrong with him.

He decided to hold the glass by the stem. That had to be right, they were in Wine Country, it seemed impossible that holding it like a glass of water could ever be the right choice here.

Derek was being ridiculous. This was absolutely nothing. Just a young sommelier doing his job, being friendly and charming was part of the job. And his face, the smooth skin, the hazel eyes, the cute little nose, that was just a gift of nature. Nothing about this was actually anything. It definitely was not _flirting_. How could one look be flirting?

Stiles was already stepping away when Derek found it in himself to mumble a quick, "Thanks.” 

It came out a little delayed. Stiles was already out of earshot.

Derek was a real dick.

No, scratch that. Laura was now openly giggling next to him. She was the biggest dick of them all.

“Smooth, little bro.” She was still giggling. “Is that how you act in front of attractive people?”

“Shut up, Laura. Nobody asked for your opinion.”

“You know full well I don’t need to be asked.”

Luckily the conversation soon drifted toward attractive people and how awful and terrible they were and how Laura hated all the men as a general rule now. Also how she still loved men too, though that part Derek wished he didn’t have to hear it at all.

*

Derek absolutely didn’t hope to see Stiles again when he woke up in the morning. As a sommelier, there was no reason for him to be in the breakfast room, right? Derek was safe to go and eat and not have to face anyone over the age of 60. 

Low season was good that way. 

He had survived a drunken Laura mocking him to the early hours of the morning. According to her, he needed to get fucked. She repeated it over and over, sang it from the top of her lungs even, until she finally dozed off. It was a miracle that none of the neighbors had called the desk to get her to stop. Derek had almost done so himself.

The way Derek was now glancing around the room had absolutely nothing to do with a young man in a suit. Derek was decidedly not hoping to see him again. 

He just went to get a plate to serve himself some breakfast while Laura stayed in their room and slept through the worst of her migraine.

Derek wasn’t ready, no warning whatsoever when a voice came behind him, “Are you enjoying your stay?”

Derek startled as he turned around to find Stiles, smiling at him.

“Hi,” Stiles smiled again, standing just a little too close in Derek’s personal space. 

Derek’s hands tingled with the need to touch him. If Stiles was his boyfriend, Derek would put a hand on the low of his back, maybe pull him closer until their bodies were flush against one another. He would probably kiss his cheek good morning. He would…

Wow wait, where did that even come from? Boyfriend? Derek was definitely getting ahead of himself. Some sense of dread curled in his stomach, cold and lonely. Heavy. Derek realized just now that he hadn’t felt that in a long time. He hadn’t longed for someone to hold in what seemed like forever. 

Stiles wasn’t wearing the same outfit as last night, Derek noticed. He wondered if Stiles was working or just hanging out around the tourists for fun. 

Derek tried to smile back but it turned out more as a grimace than a real smile. He was caught off guard. “Yes, it’s fine. Laura is having a great time.”

“Glad to hear it,” Stiles smiled again. Smiling seemed to come naturally to him. “She sounds like she knows her stuff.” 

“She does.” Derek really wanted to kiss all the moles on Stiles’ face and body. Shit.

It was slowly raining outside. The soft pitter-patter hit the large windows or the breakfast area. Derek tried to focus on that instead.

“I’ll let you enjoy your breakfast, Mr Hale,” Stiles nodded politely. He was just incredibly good at his job and maybe Derek was turning into the worst possible client.

“Derek,” he said as Stiles was stepping away. “I’m Derek.”

“Derek,” Stiles nodded. He raised one hand, lingered for another second, before taking a couple of steps backward and walking away.

Derek wanted to bury himself in a bagel and never have to think about any of it.

He had rarely felt so inadequate. He had no problem flirting before. He knew exactly what women thought of him, how his stubble, his eyes, his jawline and even sometimes his chest hair were enough to make them swoon even without him trying to hold a conversation. He knew that so well that he also hated it a little. 

It was just logic that men would find him attractive too. The standards of beauty were easy enough to understand in this society. But Derek’s gaydar… The gaydar was useless. He could never determine if a guy was interested in him or just wondering about his workout routine. Derek was a mess.

He looked up from his bagel just as Stiles glanced back over his shoulder. Oh crap.

Derek quickly finished filling his breakfast plate and found a place to sit down. He managed to not see Stiles again and made it back to the hotel room and his still-sleeping sister before anything bad happened again.

*

The rain had almost stopped when Derek made his way outside. A colorful rainbow spread across the still grey sky over the vineyard. He couldn’t say he was mad about the impromptu vacations. There wasn’t a body in the horizon as the swarm of tourists really chose to come in the summer or during harvest time to get in the vibe of this place. Derek was getting the vibe just as much in the lonely and rainy winter. This was more his speed. Plus, he was _here,_ so he had to make the best of this week.

He lingered on the hotel terrace for a while, watching the skies and taking time to breathe a little. 

His mind wandered to Stiles for a minute. It was stupid to waste all his thoughts on some guy he had barely met. And it wasn’t like they had had such wonderful talks that Derek knew Stiles was worth getting to know or vice versa. It was just stupid.

Just a case of infatuation because of the brightness in this young man’s eyes.

Laura walked out of the building after a moment. She told him about a tour starting in about fifteen minutes, and asked if he wanted to join. He wasn’t going to refuse, if only for the scenery and the bright yellow fields of mustard flowers.

She looked better now than she did this morning, though Derek wasn’t sure she was actually up for some more wine just yet. He’d have to keep an eye on her. She might be the oldest but she wasn’t the wisest.

He followed her to the side of the building to commute to the Wine train station.

Derek was momentarily blinded when he recognized who was their guide for the tour. 

"Hello to our VIP guests," Stiles welcomed them gravely, before smirking, "It doesn’t take much to be a VIP guest in the low season, but please, enjoy the special treatment."

Laura actually giggled. Jesus. It wasn’t even a good joke at all, if that even was supposed to be one. Derek tried very hard to stay stoic and probably failed because Laura was ridiculous, it was just Laura’s fault that Derek’s lips were twitching into a smile. Stiles turned to him still smiling, he looked proud of himself for some reason.

Derek swallowed hard. He tried to not find him hopelessly adorable but failed. Fuck. Now he was going to be stuck with the guy for about 6 hours and that was just his luck. He could almost think that Laura had known that Stiles was going to be on this tour. She refused to admit she had tricked him. Of course, she denied it.

Derek zoned out for most of the afternoon. He couldn’t be bothered to actually remember anything that was being said, he just watched the scenery go through the window and looked at the sun slowly setting over the valley.

Stiles was a talkative guy, he talked a lot, about a lot of things. Not all of them were wine related. But when he did talk about wine, it was something entirely. His focus was laser like and Derek was almost entranced. 

All Derek could do was stare as long fingers wrapped around the stem of the wine glass, sharp eyes studied the red liquid as Stiles tilted the glass. There was something to see in the change of color maybe, only Derek didn’t glance at the wine once. The only intensity and depth Derek was studying was the brown in Stiles’ eyes and his long eyelashes casting shadows on his cheeks under the train lights. 

Stiles swirled the wine in the glass. Derek wanted these fingers on his skin like yesterday. When Stiles talked about the aroma of berries and cherry, Derek only wanted to taste his lips. 

By the looks Laura kept sending him, Derek was sure to be coming off as a non-verbal dick. It wasn’t that he hated wine. He was just not really interested. At least the wine wasn’t what interested him. And he knew nothing could come of this strange feeling, so what good would it do to engage with Stiles in any way? What if Derek found him even more interesting if he got to know him on a deeper level. Stiles seemed to be a smart guy, he had humor. The way he had helped an old lady carry his box of bottles to the cash register of the winery they had visited was just pushing the charming aspect of everything. Stiles was just doing his job and Derek was going crazy. It was a simple equation, yet the math of it felt out of this world.

He couldn’t even manage to pry his teeth apart, he knew he would have a migraine from all the unnecessary tension.

Derek was powerless.

“So, Derek, what do you like?” Stiles brought him back to the present.

“What do I like?” Derek repeated dumbly. He was just _distracted._

“Yeah, red, white, rosé? You gotta have a preference.” Stiles’ grin was a little unsettling.

Derek glanced down at the table where the glasses and different bottles were. Wine bottles were suddenly a lot more interesting, they weren’t intimidating, they didn’t make his stomach twist. Wine was his friend. There was safety in wine.

“He likes red,” Laura answered in his place, throwing him a judging look. “He would tell you as much if he had any manners at all.”

“Laura,” Derek mumbled, glaring at his sister. “I like red,” He said a little louder, forcing himself to look at Stiles.

There was a little twitch on Stiles’ forehead, though his smile was still there and bright, but more on the side of forced professionalism this time. Derek was so drawn to that smile and he wanted to see all of them, especially the real ones. The ones Derek wanted to kiss. 

Laura snorted. “See, it’s not that hard to enjoy our anniversary vacations.”

“Oh it’s an anniversary? That calls for the real good stuff then!” Stiles’ lips curved back into a grin as he turned to go grab another bottle. “This is what you’d call top shelf.” Stiles presented the bottle to Laura before uncorking it with a pop. 

Derek’s mind was still going in a loop of how pretty Stiles’ mouth was. He really had a problem. Maybe he was allergic to wine and was going on some acid trip. That felt like what drugs would feel like. He couldn’t know he had been too busy passing the bar and becoming a lawyer while marrying his college sweetheart and then getting divorced a year later. He hadn’t found the time or envy to do any drugs. 

“You have no idea how few people actually spit,” Stiles said. “I mean, sure, swallowing is the whole point in some circumstances but with wine tasting, spitting is where it’s at.”

Derek’s gaze snapped to him, brain short circuiting with ideas that were very far from being about wine. Stiles was still being very professional, kept his eyes on the glass he was still holding in his hand.

Derek was a pervert, turning a simple talk about wine into something it wasn’t, while the guy in front of him was just doing his job. Derek was a bad person. He had to rail it in somehow. Finish the week and stop this train-wreck.

The artificial light shouldn’t have been advantageous on anyone but on Stiles, they just accentuated the paleness of his skin, the constellations of moles and just put an enticing emphasis on the pink of his lips. Derek couldn’t look away. 

Stiles finally looked up at him with a quizzical frown. 

Derek was lucky when the train finally reached the station again and they were on their way back to the hotel. If he could just make it there without making a fool out of himself...

*

Oh but what a terrible mistake it was to tell Laura. She knew, of course she knew, but he admitted it and that made it even worse.

Derek hadn’t been all that drunk and still he made the terrible decision to confess his stupid little crush on the sommelier to his older sister.

She hadn’t said anything at that moment, maybe she had already been sleeping. What were the actual chances that she had already been sleeping?

When Derek finally made it out of the room and into the breakfast area, he found Laura sitting in one of these cushioned chairs, glancing at him as he walked in and oh no, that expression didn’t look great, the hint of mischief and the twinkle in her eye.

Oh no.

"Good morning," Derek went to sit next to her, against his better judgment. Maybe he could still pretend nothing had happened last night.

The smirk on Laura’s face came so slowly, so agonizingly slowly. She enjoyed dragging out the torment, she was just awful that way. 

“Sooo?” She smiled, her tone was about a key higher than what it usually was, faking innocence and not even trying to make it believable. Derek hated her with all his might. “Tell me again about Stiles…”

Somewhere in his foggy memory, Derek vaguely remembered talking in length about Stiles’ moles, about long fingers around glass stems, and… oh, did he talk about swallowing? No, please Derek was begging all the Gods above that he didn’t talk to his sister, of all people, about wanting Stiles’ mouth on him. Derek was, metaphorically, fucked.

“He does have a pretty little mouth,” Laura shrugged. “He might put it to good use if someone asked.”

“Shut up,” Derek grumbled. This was very weak as a come back.

“How long has it been since -” Laura wasn’t shutting up. “have you even been with anyone since Paige?”

“Shut up.” Derek said again.

“Awww babe, I know you’re a monogamist at heart but please.” Laura didn’t even try to look like she felt bad about torturing her brother. She smiled too large a smile. If Derek was the violent type he could wish to punch her. “It’s high time you took care of your mini Derek.”

“There’s nothing mini about it,” Derek corrected because he was immature like that.

“You should tell that to Stiles!” She smirked, sipping her cup of coffee.

Derek was definitely not going to tell that to Stiles. Even more so, he was actually done talking about it and this whole conversation had never happened. He just erased it from his memory. 

Now. Erased.

Laura’s grin reappeared, “So do we have a plan?”

Derek stretched a hand across the table to grab one of the toasts in her plate and bit it with an obnoxious crunching sound. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not against seeing you thirsting over the cute wine expert for the rest of the week and mocking you relentlessly for the rest of your life but,” she was clearly too happy about this prospect. “I think we can make something out of this little crush that you have.”

“You keep saying ‘we’ but I really don’t think there is a ‘we’ in this case,” Derek said.

“That’s where you are mistaken, little bro, you are sorely mistaken!” She smiled again. It was more than a little terrifying.

“Laura. Laura, you are not allowed to do anything, okay?” Derek looked at her dead in the eyes, carefully enunciating each word.

“And why not?” Laura tilted her head. 

She was going to ruin everything, ruin Derek’s vacations and ruin his life. She was going to get Cora, their little sister, on board too and they would both ruin his life forever.

Derek felt his ears turning red, his whole face too most probably. She let out a loud laugh. Derek shook his head; he was utterly screwed.

Derek couldn’t be sure of anything except for Laura’s eyes turning huge all of a sudden. She had never been really subtle about anything in her whole life, had she? Derek felt the embarrassment creeping up on him. That was obviously when Stiles entered the room. 

“Don’t turn around!” She whispered loudly. “He’s here, he’s _here!_ ”

Derek couldn’t not turn around. 

Stiles wasn’t wearing his suit this morning, only a simple plaid shirt. That might be even better, more like what someone would expect him to look on a regular day, on a Saturday while going grocery shopping. Something mundane. Why was Derek unable to stop these thoughts??

“Maybe he’s off the clock!” Laura whispered, still as discreet as ever. “If he’s off the clock it opens a world of possibilities!”

They both watched as Stiles went to serve himself a plate of food, poured a large cup of coffee, and went to sit down at one of the tables by the windows. 

Derek’s saving grace was that Stiles wasn’t paying attention to them, not glancing in their direction at all. That was the only good point about the whole ordeal because Laura’s insistent stare wouldn’t have been easy to miss. 

Okay, Derek was too quick in thinking he was safe because now Stiles was looking and… waving.

Shit.

And Laura, being Laura, decided it was the perfect time to swat at Derek’s shoulder as if Derek’s eyes hadn’t already turned wide in horror.

“It’s your chance to make a move!” Laura was still whispering the same way they do in theater plays during an aside… like it’s made for the audience. “Go say hello! Be polite!”

Though she might possibly have a point, Derek had been far from polite the past couple of days. It wasn’t important as they were leaving in just a few days and Derek had no plan on ever seeing Stiles again, but it was against his ethics to mistreat waiters, checkout clerks. Sommeliers didn’t deserve to be mistreated either. Especially when there was no way Stiles could understand why Derek was being an ass. 

“Just to say hello.”

Laura’s grin grew big, so big her eyes were smiling too. For a broken heart, she really was into playing Cupid. 

"Tell him about not-mini Derek and what you want his mouth to do to him." 

Derek turned to give her a death glare, her responding grin was the devil’s work.

When she was satisfied by the mortification clearly visible on Derek’s face she turned back to her last remaining toast and shooed him away without even looking. 

As he slowly made his way to the table, Stiles was still smiling, welcoming yet a little awkward.

Derek clenched his teeth, suddenly at a loss for words. What was the word Laura wanted him to say again? No not the one about the mini Derek. Jesus. He was going to kill Laura for putting these ideas in his head, for bringing him here, for everything. Siblings were always to blame for all the terrible things.

“Hey, big guy.” Stiles greeted. 

“Hey.”

Derek was smiling in return before he even realized what he was doing. It was short lived though when Derek found himself awkwardly standing there without any word coming out of his mouth. He was clearly overthinking this. It was all Laura’s fault.

“You wanna sit down?” Stiles offered, gesturing to the other chair at his table. 

"... Sure," Derek replied after a painful minute of silence. 

Stiles stared at him, teeth worrying his bottom lip while Derek pulled the chair and slowly sat down on it. It was like a terribly bad slow motion scene. 

When he was finally seated, Derek blanked out. He was supposed to talk, say anything. And shit, all Derek could think was that he would very much like to be the one biting down on that lip, tug it into his mouth to soothe it. 

“Are you guys enjoying your stay?” Stiles prompted the start of some small talk. Derek grasped for something nonchalant but he had none of that in him. 

It wasn’t the first time Stiles had asked him this question in that question. It seemed to be his go-to line. It shouldn’t have been that hard to say ‘ _sure.’_ Derek felt absolutely out of his depth but he nodded after a minute.

Why was he so useless when it came to pretty boys with bright brown eyes? This pretty boy in particular.

The silence turned long and so incredibly awkward.

Stiles started fidgeting on his chair, throwing glances over Derek’s shoulder as if trying to beg someone to come save him or finding an escape route from this hell. 

Derek couldn’t blame him. He wanted to escape too. He wanted to run and never look back on this awfully comfortable warmth in his stomach.

“Listen,” Stiles started seeing that Derek wasn’t keen on talking. “I’ll just cut to the chase, you’re really hot. Yeah, I mean, I have eyes and it’s too early for me to have a filter, I barely woke up. You’re hot _hot._ Oh no, don’t even try to look shy and pretend that you don’t know. I’ve been on the ‘am I attractive to gay guys’ train before and I know that look, I’ve perfected that look. You don’t deserve this shy look, not with a face like yours. Sorry I don’t make the rules. You are hot and hot people are supposed to be assholes, or at the very least broody and intimidating, and definitely not shy. Because how am I supposed to resist a hot shy guy, huh?”

Derek wasn’t sure if Stiles expected an answer to that. He didn’t have one to give.

“From what I can tell, you feel like a nice enough guy and your Laura is a talker, especially when she has had a couple of glasses of wine and she talks. About you. A lot. She really talks about you all the time and all of it is nice and sweet. Really sweet. Enough to make anyone want to give you all the nice things, I get it. I'd want that too. Dude, the vibe you give off is not as menacing as you seem to think it is. Also I can recognize a guy who likes dick from ten miles away. I’m sorry if that’s out of line. I don’t mean to be, but I see the way you look at me and I can’t say I hate it. I’m only human, and it’s very flattering to have a guy who’s close to looking like a Greek god, clearly checking me out. I’m flattered, consider me very flattered. _But._ Yeah there is a ‘but’ here. Sadly, I am not into kinky shit.” Stiles shrugged. “Obviously with a trusted partner I could be open to a lot of things. But I don’t share. Stiles Stilinski is a one person person.” 

Derek frowned. He understood the feeling of being a one person person so that wasn’t it. Something intrigued him, but he was not really able to pinpoint what made him double take.

“I want someone who is just here for me, who’s only in love with me. I’m not saying you’re in love with me. It would be a little too forward to assume anything other than some very obvious attraction and pretty great chemistry. I get it, sex between us would be amazing. I think so too. Like orgasms after orgasms all night long. All day long too. I could quit my job for all the orgasms and not ever step foot in a cellar ever again. Like my contract ends in a month and I’m going home anyway so yeah I’d be down for some mind blowingly good sex. The problem.. well, the problem is sitting at the table right over there.”

Now Derek was really confused.

“Yeah. Your wife. I don’t care if you’re trying to get me for a threesome or if it’s an open relationship or something else entirely. I’m not doing that. And believe me, I regret my standards and my morals because I would have absolutely adored to fuck you into Sunday. I can’t.” Stiles made a vague apologetic gesture, like all of this made any sense at all.

Derek was stunned. If he hadn’t been silent before he would have been muted by the whole tirade of how much Stiles had thought about sex with him. 

"She’s not my wife," Derek answered with an embarrassingly obvious delay. He rubbed the back of his neck. He waved a hand in the direction of where she was probably still crunching on her toast and most definitely laughing at the scene unfolding in front of her. "Laura is my sister. And before you say anything else, we do not have any incestuous undertones that I’m aware of, I’m pretty sure she would confirm that if asked."

“Oh.” Stiles’ face fell. He was the mortified one now. “Oh. Good to know. Yeah. That’s good to know.”

“Yeah, the anniversary is not about us, it was her ex.” Derek gave him a tight smile. This was awkward. 

“Okay.” Stiled nodded slowly, seemingly pondering something. “Okay.”

“Sorry.” Derek felt he had to say that. 

Maybe he could still salvage the end of the week, spend it in nothing but professionalism. He might even buy more wine as a way to apologize. That could help, couldn’t it? 

Suddenly Stiles stood up, pushing himself up both palms on the tabletop. 

“Mister Hale,” There was the professionalism Derek had been expecting. “Would you like to visit the cellar of the property?”

“Huh?”

At 9:30 am?

“The cellar? Now?” Stiles said, quickly making his way around the table.

He was already halfway across the room when Derek turned around to see him walk away.

“Go, you dumbfuck!” Laura rolled her eyes at him with her whole face.

What?

The couple of old ladies who had been busy filling their plates with cheesy scrambled eggs turned around with a collective gasp.

“Goooo!” Laura almost growled.

Derek’s body reacted before his brain caught up and he was already walking, fast, to catch up with Stiles.

The door of the cellar closed behind him, Stiles was waiting for him, leaning his back against the brick wall at the bottom of the stairs.

The sour scent of wine and old wood filled the air. The walls were covered with shelves, themselves covered in wine bottles. The room was filled with barrels with taps on the side.

Derek took his time walking down. His heart was skyrocketing, trying to break free.

What was he even doing?

He finally reached Stiles. Derek inhaled deeply. Standing so close now, he caught the faint scent of Stiles’ aftershave and a hint of the coffee he drank. They were both breathing fast, as if they had actually run. 

Derek felt short of breath because this was brand new. He hadn’t let himself even think about this for so long. Even before Paige called it quits on their marriage if he was being completely honest. They had lost interest a fucking long time ago and had just gone along with the pretense for a couple more years, even going to the extent of getting married to try to salvage it. 

Right here and now, there was no need to pretend. 

Stiles was watching him with a small smile, a smile that lingered around his eyes. It didn’t feel mocking though.

The cellar light and the darkness around cast shadows on Stiles’ cheekbones, on his soft jawline.

Derek swayed closer.

When Stiles spoke, his voice was low, as soft as a whisper, “you gotta know I don’t normally do this.”

“What? Invite clients into the wine cellar?” Derek’s eyebrows twitched but he was able to contain the smile.

“Yeah. That.” Stiles snorted. “I don’t want you to think I’m just making rounds, fucking my way though all the Napa Valley elite and all the tourists. I’m not.”

“I never thought that.” Derek said but Stiles didn’t seem to hear him.

“I’m actually not from here. I’m just here because some friends of my dad’s needed a hand while they were taking some time off during the low season.”

Okay. Derek sort of expected it to be a short lived thing anyway. He was the tourist here and he hadn’t projected anything and not even imagined coming back here a second time. None of what Stiles got up to once he would be gone and back home shouldn’t make his heart clench like it did.

“I’m only here until Saturday,” Derek said, to hear the words out loud.

“Yeah.” Stiles worried his lower lip between his teeth. “We should still go for it. I’m not talking myself out of it. I don’t care if you don’t.”

“I don’t care,” Derek said. It almost didn’t taste like a lie. 

Then, he was the one who closed the gap between them, almost careful as his lips brushed over Stiles’. It could have been fierce and passionate for all Derek had thought about kissing that mouth, but instead it barely felt like a kiss, it was so light. 

It was more for the gesture.

“Oh I already know I’m gonna miss this when I go home to Beacon Hills.” It was Stiles who spoke.

Stiles who thought about missing Derek, Stiles who- 

Wait.

“Beacon Hills?” Derek frowned as he took a small step back. Not because he wanted to get away but because he needed to see Stiles’ face to make sure he heard right. “I’m from Beacon Hills.”

Stiles’ eyebrows shot up. “What?” His voice cracked. “No. San Francisco. The booking info said.. yeah I went to lurk, I’m awful and I should get fired immediately. The booking info said Hale, reservation for two, with an address in San Francisco. I made a point of not learning the address by heart because I am not a psycho. But San Francisco was absolutely on there. You’re from San Francisco.”

“No matter how many times you say San Francisco, the fact that I am not from there isn’t going to change.” Derek rolled his eyes.

“But-“

“ _Laura_ and her now-ex were living together in San Francisco.”

“And-“

“And that’s all.” Derek shrugged, not knowing what else to add.

“Oh my God…” Stiles was still looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Do you know the name of the Sheriff?”

Derek tilted his head, confused by the change of subject.

“Of Beacon Hills.” 

“Are you testing me?” Derek snorted. “Stilinski is the sheriff.”

The name flowed out of his mouth because of course he knew his hometown’s sheriff. They were in regular contact through their respective jobs. Stilinski was a good man and Derek had nothing bad to say about him. Stilinski… Oh. 

“Oh God…” Stiles breathed out, more to himself it seemed. “Okay…”

“Yeah.” Derek agreed though he didn’t know to what.

“So this is an even bigger decision.” Stiles nodded in his reflection. “It’s not just two guys wanting to have some fun for a few days and never seeing each other again. It’s not about cherishing the memories of some incredible sex between wine barrels. It’s bigger than that now. Because we could still do that but now there’s a big risk that we might see each other again, bump into each other at the store or in the street or if you ever get turned in for public indecency for being so incredibly hot in public. I swear you’re the embodiment of porn even with your clothes on, some random Karen could absolutely call the cops. And my Dad, oh man, my dad, my dad would be the one to question you. The sheriff is my dad by the way.”

“I know,” Derek said.

“Anyway, what was I saying?” Stiles shook his head. “It’s going to be awkward. So awfully awkward because you’ll have moved on and I’ll still be hung up on these few days for at least 5 years and we could probably up that to 10 years if I bumped into you at any point in time.”

Derek huffed out. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“This isn’t just a few days thing.” Stiles grimaced. “This… I…”

“There’s no end date.” Derek concluded.

“Yeah, I know and that’s what makes it sooo-“ he shrugged.

“Do you want an end date?”

“Do I - _what_?” Stiles squawked.

Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It could be a mistake to do this but he couldn’t find any reasons why it would be. He pulled Stiles against his body, Stiles came but a little awkwardly. Their knees knocked together as they stumbled backward and into each other. 

Stiles’ eyes were still wide.

“Do you need an end date?” Derek asked again. “I don’t think I do.”

“No end date?” 

Derek made a show of shaking his head, slowly. 

And then they were kissing, not a feather light kiss this time, they were really kissing.

He couldn’t even remember if other kisses had felt this good. He couldn’t even think clearly about anything but for Stiles’ lips parting to welcome him. They stumbled back, Stiles losing balance and Derek holding them both upright, holding on to the wall. Everything came down to the blood rushing in his ears and that strange breathless feeling clenching his chest with the need for more.

Stiles pressed closer, fingers tangling in Derek’s hair.

“God, I know I’m gonna miss this.” Stiles whispered. “For a month, and then I’ll be home and I’ll date the hell out of you.”

Derek let out a breathless laugh. He was still definitely affected by that one kiss. 

“I’m a real good date,” he continued.

Funny how Stiles thought it was still the time to talk.

“I’m a good person to take out and have a good time. I have humor, sometimes dark but still funny. Dark funny. And I can hold a conversation. Any type of conversation. Clearly I know about wine and even though I can totally tell that you don’t really like or care about wine, that always earns points with the moms… and yeah. I’m a good boyf- I’m a real good date. And I’m a good kisser as you’ve just experienced and -“ 

“Humble,” Derek supplied.

“That too.”

“There’s no need to sell it that hard. I’ve already signed up.”

*

When they walked out of the cellar, out of the building, Derek caught a glimpse of Laura doing a victory dance. He could have wanted to make fun of her but Derek’s heart wasn’t doing a little victory dance of its own right about now.

Stiles’ fingers brushed against his. They were so warm under the cloudy sky. The soft breeze flowed through the flowers and the dry branches of the vines, the wet dirt under their feet.

Stiles stopped him. “I need to confess one thing, Derek, before anything else. You may think I'm a hot wine expert and that I have my shit together, but you gotta know I’m a little bit of a mess, a bi disaster.” He smirked. 

Derek snorted before leaning closer. “I guess that makes two of us.” 

Stiles’ smirk turned into a grin. Derek could only see it from the crinkles in the corners of his eyes. 

Better kiss that smile off his face then. 

“And just so we’re clear,” Derek whispered against his lips. “I don’t share either.”


End file.
